Hell Hath No Fury
by Nemesis13
Summary: All that mattered to Joanna Shepard was her family, and while life on Mindoir wasn't the best, it was hers. Then slavers took that away, and she had nothing. It was only through the care of David Anderson that she did not fall to her hatred, but it would always be a part of her. The galaxy had no idea what had been forged in the fires of despair, but soon, all would know.
1. Chapter 1

**So I had this sitting on the hard drive for awhile and decided to polish it up and post it, obviously Fem!Shep and she looks fairly close to what Jane does on the boxart of ME3, but slightly more along the lines of Cait from Fallout 4. Anyway, if you'd like more, please review, if I get enough reaction to this we'll follow Joanna through bootcamp, her biotic training, and the raid on Elysium.**

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Joanna Shepard stared up into the darkening crimson skies of Mindoir with a hint of melancholy as she walked the well worn dirt path leading from the colonies small schoolhouse back to her families homestead. Colony life was honestly rather, well... boring really, but it was what they had and she told herself she wouldn't trade it for anything else. She had her friends, she had her family, and the local Systems Alliance recruiter mentioned that he could possibly bend a few rules to see if she could join the medical work study program a year earlier then normal if she kept her grades up.

All told the emerald eyed teenager felt pretty pleased with herself despite her growing wanderlust, slipping a lock of auburn hair behind her ear she turned to her traveling companion as he kept rambling on to himself fully aware yet not caring that his best friend was ignoring his enthusiastic banter.

"I'm tell'in ya Jo the Avenger series is where it's at! The cyclic rate of fire is superb and don't even get me started on all the optics options!" Rolling her eyes the young woman shook her head as she decided to humor her friend with an appraising smirk.

"Nick, the entire Avenger line is plagued with over heating issues my Da' said so himself, really the M-6 is a piece of shite and most likely will get passed over. They need to figure out how to dissipate the waste energy in a manner that won't burn a man's hands off, I mean really-" She was cut off as the raven haired teen shot out his annoyed reply.

"And you're just looking at raw stats Jo, ya ain't look'in at what's _really_ important about that beast!" More amused then not she paused long enough to lean against a fence post and address her oldest friend with a barely restrained grin.

"Oh and what's that?" Smirking Nick leaned towards her, the pearly white sheen of his teeth clashing heavily with his dark complexion and the waning daylight as he did so.

"Simply put JoJo, holding that masterpiece makes you look like you've got style!" Snorting she swatted her friend on the back of his head while kicking off the post, this was ruined of course by her mirrored grin.

"You're incorrigible you know that Nick?" Dropping the "street" accent he'd previously been sporting, and likely lifted from some poorly acted out film he'd watched the night before on the extranet, the young man rushed before his friend and spun on his toe once as he began walking backwards.

"You know you love it Jo," his normal Irish lilt ever so much like her own rolling across his tongue as his usual devil may care smile made itself known. Rolling her eyes yet again she leaned forward and pecked him on the cheek causing him to pause and sputter as he nearly lost his balance.

"I'll talk to you later Nick, tell your mum and dad I said hi!" Nick stood there in the twilight a few moments before bellowing out a reply.

"That's not fair! Thaaats nooot faair!" Snickering to herself Joanna continued on to her home going over what she needed to do before she could get some sleep tonight. Eating dinner was a must, mum would't have it any other way regardless. Make sure the cows were milked, easy if not irritating. Double check the auto-irrigaters, gods be damned things nearly drowned their radish crop last week. See that-

"JO!" Stopping just outside of her families prefab shelter she was tackled by two red headed blurs who pulled her down to the sweet smelling grass in a shower of giggles. Groaning in fond irritation she pulled her twin brothers up with herself forgoing the usual tickle attacks, today had been a long one and she just wanted to finish it off quickly.

"Monty, Norris, you should be helping Da' with his chores, you can pester me later, just let your poor sister get a bit of dinner in her belly first all right? The two ten year olds threw her a pair of salutes and went running off to the barn, rolling her eyes she tapped the key to the front door and winced as the bright light washed over her.

"Joanna dear, glad to see you made it back in one piece!" Jo really didn't know if it was teenage hormones or honest irritation that caused her to roll her eyes yet again, it wasn't like there was bears or anything on this planet.

Really, outside of the occasional drunken spacer and the like Mindoir had to be the most boring place to raise a family in the entire Alliance. It and countless worlds _like_ it drew adventurous souls to their promises of frontiering and independent living every year. When they settled down the participants of said folly found themselves in a borderline luddite existence where they got to supply the nearest _civilized_ planet with potatoes. Yay them.

"Hey mum, how was your day?" And with that mother and daughter exchanged inane stories of their inane days, it was...gods be damned boring, but it was hers so Jo would not take it out on her family. Someday, hopefully someday soon she'd join the Systems Alliance and actually _do_ something with her life. Until then...milking cows, making sure the radishes didn't drown, and picking potatoes to be sent off world was the culmination of her existence.

Eventually she helped her Mum and Da put her brothers down for the night and nursed a cup of tea as she updated her homework for the next day as the fog of boredom set in her brain.

She could never have realized how much she'd miss this simple life in a mere few hours.

As the alarm went off Joanna sat up from her warm, if stiff bed and glared at its digital display in irritation. 5:30 am, which meant she had a half hour to feed the animals and set the automatons, twenty minutes to check the perimeter, and after that she had twenty minutes to shower, and ten minutes after that she had to meet up with Nick and get to town before the rest of her class.

Why. Why the hell did she let that bastard talk her into becoming class president on top of all the other crap she had to deal with? Snorting she shook her head once as she slid her black cargo pants and t-shirt on. The answer to that was easy, because she loved the bugger and he knew it, ugh. With that she slipped into her work boots and her olive drab utility jacket while snapping up a black billed cap pulling it snugly against her head, she really had no desire to mess with her hair this early in the morning.

Yawning Jo smiled as she inhaled the heavenly scent of life giving coffee, mum must of have set the machine before she went to bed, go her! Reaching the kitchen in record speed the teenager soon poured herself a rather large serving of the black liquid. Smiling happily she cradled the steaming bounty as if it were a slumbering child she didn't wish to disturb. Padding towards the prefab's only exit she glanced at her dads old Mattock rifle hanging on a high wall peg and quickly walked past it hitting the switch to cycle the door.

Wild animals weren't really an issue on Mindoir discounting the occasional drunk so she really didn't see any point to lugging the weapon along today. Regardless she had a combat knife and some training in its use, both gifted to her by Sergeant Piers the local Alliance recruiter. She should be fine, and if the situation required more then that there was always her secret weapon.

Jo grimaced at that, the less people knew about her biotic abilities the better, her parents had insisted she keep the talent hidden until she enlisted for her own good, when she was younger she didn't understand. Now? Well the extranet articles never straight out said it but the truly talented had a habit of vanishing, and it didn't take a conspiracy theorist to guess that a vivisection or weaponization...or both was involved for those sorry individuals.

Best to let it not even be a thing until her first Alliance physical, after that she was on the grid and part of something big enough that it would be too hard for her to disappear. Were they paranoid? Perhaps, but as her dad liked to say 'just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get ya'.

Stepping outside she shuddered in the dim morning light while her breath hung frozen in the air before her; oh yeah, today was going to be one of those days. First thing was first, entering the cow pens she activated the drone that would feed the docile animals, and much to her pleasure it didn't break down or explode in the process.

That was the funny thing about growing up on a frontier farm, as much as you get to enjoy modern automation nine times out of ten the cheaply made equipment would catch on fire and explode killing everyone you ever loved in the process. That's why people like Jo, being the unfortunate eldest, woke up before everyone else to keep an eye on the soulless machines and make sure they did their job without the unintentional murder. Yay her.

Stifling a yawn Jo hopped on the absolutely ancient dirt bike kept around solely for her next chores purpose and rode the rickety machine out to the perimeter beacons to make sure they were still broadcasting. The machines were, for all intents and purposes, science fiction cattle prod fences, but just like everything else on Mindoir they were built by the lowest bidder so daily checkups were a must.

Midway through her circuit she more felt then heard something she'd only experienced a few times before, slowing the bike down and killing the engine she paused and waited. There it was again, weird. On occasion freighters would enter atmosphere too fast breaking the sound barrier in the process, this caused an odd Doppler effect when mixed with the ships mass effect field and well...you got the strange warbling feeling in the air she was currently experiencing.

Thing was...why hadn't it stopped? Reaching into her saddle bag she pulled out an old dented pair of binoculars and zoomed in on the horizon just in time to see the colonies small spaceport explode. Eyes widening she panned the lenses about and finally noticed several alien gunships strafing the area, disgorging armed men the entire time who immediately began firing on the early rising colonists.

Pirates.

"Oh God I have to get home!" Tossing her binoculars back into the saddlebag she restarted the bike and revved the engine for all it was worth, not thinking of anything other then saving her family. It took a heart pounding few minutes to get back in sight of her home, and what she saw took her breath away.

A large APC had pulled up into their front yard, completely destroying the fence and her mum's meticulously pruned flower garden, several men were milling about as the apparent leader fired a shot at the door and began yelling. Killing the engine Jo let the bike fall to the ground and dove behind a cargo container, thankfully no one heard her approach due to the chaos at the other homesteads and the burning town center.

"Come out now, you'll only make things harder on yourselves if you fight back!" The mans voice had a weird warble to it, like he was talking through some voice distortion device, but he wasn't wearing a helmet his bald head made that apparent. The man turned to address one of the pirates behind him and Jo took a sharp intake of breath in horrified realization.

A Batarian, these weren't pirates, they were slavers! Before she could think of what to do the mans head exploded in a spray of bone, blood, and brain matter. As his limp body fell she couldn't help but compare it to a marionette whose strings were just cut. The resounding echo of a gunshot and the slight glow from the open bedroom window told her exactly what she needed to know, her Da' had just taken one of the bastards out.

She was so glad she hadn't taken the rifle with her today.

"FUCK! Take him out!" One of the slavers yelled as he dove for cover but was too slow, three hard cracks came from the house, the first two shots were stopped by his kinetic barriers, the third shot wasn't. As the man fell over with a gaping hole in his chest the other slavers opened fire on her home and Joanna could only watch in mute horror as the thin prefab walls were torn apart as if they were made out of paper.

If they were lucky her family got under cover, the kitchen table was a huge thing made of thick durable steel and was heavy enough to shake off the mass accelerator rounds that were peppering the building. With this reassuring thought she slowly inched forward, hoping to catch one of the slavers off guard.

Then one of them fired a rocket launcher into her home, the building vanished as her cry of anguish was taken by the clapping sound wave following the explosion. Ears ringing Joanna fell to her knees and stared at the smoldering ruins of the only home she'd ever known, a place she'd been desperate to leave since she gained her sense of wanderlust. Gone.

"YOU IDIOT!" One of the batarians screamed as he slapped the rocket launcher out of the hands of her families murderer, "What good are dead colonists you fucking sand-head!? We can't sell bodies as slaves fool, who knows how much money you just cost us!"

As the man went on to defend himself one of the surrounding group finally noticed Joanna, leering he turned to the still ranting slaver and yelled out, "Yo boss! Look at the goods!"

Pausing he turned to the still stunned teenage girl and grinned viciously, "Well, not a complete loss eh?" He walked towards Jo and stared down at her with a hungry look in his four eyes, tearing her hat from her head he grabbed her chin and jerked it to force her to stare up at him.

"You killed my family," was all she could think to say.

The slaver nodded in disappointed agreement at this, "Yeah fucking idiot doped himself up on red sand before the raid, this is definitely coming out of his cut, and what a cut it would have been too with you here. Redheads are always in demand and those eyes, well, many a man would pay a fortune to have those beauties staring up at him while having his dick sucked. Pity you're probably a virgin, worth more that way but I wouldn't have minded a test drive."

What? No. She...no she wasn't... As panic began to set in he sighed and cuffed her heavily on the back of the head sending her sprawling. "Collar the whore and lets get moving, we've already been stationary too long. Balak says the Alliance will be here within the hour, we need to wrap this up." As a rough pair of hands pulled her back up into a kneeling position she felt something boil beneath the surface of her skin, something she was told to always keep reigned in.

But what did it matter? Her Da', her Mum, her little brothers, they were all dead, she was all that was left of the Shepard family. Her family. Her family was dead.

Time stood still, she felt the numbing shock of the past few minutes fade instantly as an electric like tingle swam through her nerves. The building pressure in her skull was only matched by her rage, and when the smirking batarian before her grabbed her hair and pulled her head back to snap a collar around her neck, he froze.

Her eyes were glowing blue. A moment later her entire body was covered in arcs of untamed azure energy and she clearly heard one of the slavers bark out a shocked "SHE'S A BIOTIC!" The warning didn't save them, with more speed and grace then she thought herself capable of she plucked her knife from her boot and buried it firmly in the skull of the slaver before her.

Turning she saw the man who fired the rocket that killed her family, with a grin she charged forward and suddenly she was standing before him, letting out a roar of unyielding rage she felt a pulse of power leave her sending everyone sprawling. Snatching up a dropped rifle she approached the triggerman and sprayed him with the automatic weapon, his kinetic barriers already weakened soon failed leaving him nothing more then a twitching bloody mess.

She felt...odd while red marred her vision she felt herself weakening, the three survivors were getting to their feet though and that just wouldn't do. Charging forward again she snatched her knife out of her first kills head and stopped before the man who had thought she'd make an excellent sex slave and in one smooth motion slit his throat.

She was really feeling woozy now but her families murderers were still alive so she couldn't give up now, snatching a round device off the slavers belt it only took her a moment to realize what it was. She had no training on how to use weapons, only what her Da' had taught her with his old rifle and plinking with Nick's mum's pistol, but any kid who watched a war vid knew how hand grenades worked.

Priming it she tossed it at the two now standing slavers who managed to get a few shots off at her but seemed to have missed, then they were gone in a thunderclap of smoke and fire. Swaying back and forth she walked towards the remains of her home to see if maybe, just maybe her family had survived but she stumbled and fell to her knees.

That was odd, why couldn't she move? The dull aches she'd been ignoring soon became agonized pains, staring down at her blood stained hands and her soaked through jacket she suddenly realized what happened.

"Oh...I've been shot...a lot..." With that her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she collapsed, staining the burnt soil crimson around her.

* * *

Commander David Anderson stared down at the broken child in the hospital bed before him, sighing he rubbed his eyes slowly as he shook his head warily. Out of a colony of a thousand people, only four were found alive, everyone else either died fighting back or were taken as slaves.

Four survivors. The other three, well...one was an old man who ironically slept through most of the raid, another was a teenager who managed to lock himself in a janitors closet, the third well... The girl was pretty, and the slavers were cruel, she might recover, she might not.

The fourth survivor though, she...she was something different. Joanna Shepard, a simple farm girl who had managed to hide her biotics from everyone, something that would only be feasible on a colony world as remote as Mindoir, where regular checkups weren't enforced.

He understood why some of them hid, there was a superstition that if you showed an affinity for strong biotic powers you'd be 'disappeared', and there was enough unconfirmed precedents to justify their paranoia. The trade off was they were usually untamable balls of destruction whose own bodies would be flayed by their uncontrollable powers when they finally let themselves go.

Or you could, like the girl on the bed before him, use every reserve at your disposal and go on a killing spree against a large group of men each three times your size. And win, mind you. To put it simply the girl intrigued him, the drones that had been following the slavers around had been recovered by the Alliance first responders and their recordings were interesting to say the least.

Without an implant or biotic amp, much less military training she had managed to kill five hardened soldiers, and they were soldiers of course. The Batarians liked to pretend that these little slave grabs were unsanctioned but everyone knew better. Sadly, the Council as always proved how ineffective bureaucrats could be on a regular basis and did nothing but offer their condolences whenever the matter was brought up.

"David," the Commander started as a calm voice spoke behind him, turning he smiled lightly to the doctor who looked like death warmed over at the moment. The old mans fingers were twitching as if he was desperately in need of a cigarette and knowing what the surgery he'd recently finished entailed, he probably was.

"Doc, how's she looking?"

The doctor sighed and fell into his seat wincing as he did so, old bones creaking slightly in the process, "She'll live, the L3 implant should be stabilizing her powers now which will help greatly. Kind of ironic, her biotics were what saved her, and then nearly killed her. As for the gunshot wounds they'll heal up, the damage to her organs was luckily superficial but she's going to have some scarring."

Anderson nodded at that, they likely wouldn't be the only scars the girl carried after this mess.

He was about to respond when the girl groaned out in pain, "Monty, Norris! No! I..." as the machines began beeping they automatically began feeding sedatives into her IV sending her back under.

"She keeps calling for her family, occasionally sobs about it being her fault, or she just starts crying uncontrollably about 'So much blood'...David do we have any idea who these bastards were?"

He sighed at that and fell into the chair next to the doctor, "Captain pulled a few strings, says that more then likely we'll never know who they were. While we've been able to work over the bodies left at the Shepard homestead they haven't really told us anything. No IDs and the Batarians refuse to release any data associated with them so that's a dead end. I hate to say it Doc but, it's looking to be another tragedy in a string of tragedies that will never be resolved."

"Shit," was the doctors rather succinct response, David snorted in return.

"Quite, when will it be safe to wake her up?" The doctor shrugged at that as he glanced at his terminal, Anderson saw him running calculations through his a head a moment before the man nodded to himself.

"Eh, around the time we hit Arcturus Station, I want her implant incisions fully healed before we tell her everything, it's rather likely she won't take it well." Anderson nodded but was interrupted by the doctors questioning voice before he could respond, "Why do you care so much about her David? I know what happened to her was horrible but you seem to have taken a special interest in her. Why?"

He took in a deep breath and held it a moment before replying, "She's alone Doc, completely alone. Everything she's ever known, her home, her family, her friends, hell her entire _colony_ is gone. She's obviously got a killers instinct and she has the power to act on it and a very real reason to hate the entire galaxy. I want...I want to help her, save her from herself before she even starts down that path, because if I don't go out of my way to be there for her, who will?"

The doctor stared at him a few moment before snorting and slowly taking to his feet, "You're a good man David, better then most, I wish you the best of luck on your little pet project because honestly? I think you're right."

Turning back to the thin teenager wrapped in layers of bandages Anderson took her in with tired eyes, "What will the future hold for you, Shepard?"

* * *

 **Name: Joanna Shepard**

 **Rank: Commander in Systems Alliance Navy**

 **Class: Vanguard**

 **Place of Birth: Mindoir (Colony rendered inert)**

 **History: Hero of Elysium**

 **Status: _Renegade_**


	2. An Interlude

**Got almost no reaction from this originally, just testing the waters, if you want more please review with criticisms or compliments.**

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"Commander Anderson, your ID has once again been used in an attempt to break into the Mainframe Database."

David sighed as he glanced up from his desk, meeting the gaze of the emotionless VI hologram being emitted from the corner of the room he rolled his eyes while nodding.

"All right then, I assume the attempt came from my quarters as it has previously?"

The VI froze a moment before nodding, "Yes Commander, shall I call station security?"

He grunted as he kicked out of his chair, standing David shook his head slowly, "No, I'll handle it."

Leaving his office David made his way through the wide hexagonal hallways of Arcturus Station wondering exactly _why_ he put up with this nonesense. She wasn't part of his family, she wasn't even legally his problem, yet he insisted on keeping the little trouble maker around. Really, he should just send her to an orphanage but, well...

As he reached his quarters the door slid open and he was met with a of wave of pungent aromas, "I made perogies and onions, your favorite. I drank your whiskey but I ordered two new bottles, how was your day?"

Turning to meet the speaker he met Joanna Shepard's gaze evenly as the teenage girl's fingers danced about her tablet's screen. She was wearing Alliance issued sweats, barefoot, and her eyes were sunken in, dark circles surrounding the emerald orbs. Sipping from a glass full of amber liquid she glanced away from David's gaze looking a bit ashamed but didn't say anything else.

"Jo...I've been patient with you, but you can't keep getting caught trying to break into the mainframe on a near daily basis."

At this she actually laughed before shaking her head, "They're not catching me hack in, they're catching my _attempt_ to use your ID. After that I just piggyback on the carrier signal sent out by the security VI and saunter in and make myself at home afterwords."

He stared at her dumbly a moment before sighing once again, rubbing his palms down his face David eventually collected himself enough to respond to that revelation.

"So you have access to the Alliance's most secure documents?"

Jo grinned as she nodded in turn, "For the better part of four months actually, I really have no idea who is in charge of your security, but you really need to fire them."

David stared at her a few moments before snorting and walked into the small kitchenette. There was a plate of perogies with a side of green beans on the table next to a glass of amber liquid and a pail of ice. Smirking he tossed a few ice cubes into the whiskey, snatched up his dinner and entered the living room.

Taking a seat across from Jo he took a deep drink from the liquor before jamming one of the perogies in his mouth.

Damn, that girl really knew how to cook.

"I want to enlist," she stated flatly while still tapping at her tablet, David continued chewing on his perogie as he mulled that over.

Swallowing he tilted his head to the side before replying, "Why's that?"

Joanna was, blessedly, one of those women who didn't like wasting words on pointless conversation, he had it under good authority it was a personality trait shared by researchers and farm girls near exclusively.

"I want to kill Batarians and protect humanity, in that order," succinct and to the point, Joanna's style.

"The Alliance brass won't take you with that kind of reasoning Jo," she shrugged.

"I'll make up some patriotic bullshit, they won't care in so long as I have a sponsor."

David grunted while he ate another perogie, eventually he responded, "That would be me I take it?"

Joanna smiled lightly at that, her smiles were rare, but beautiful things, "You got it in one Da', it's a fun little way to get around psychological evaluations."

David paused at this, not only at the 'Da'' moniker but the reasoning behind his endorsement, "You don't think you'd pass on your own?"

She snorted at that while rolling her eyes, "Hell no, PTSD, revenge issues, alcoholism, being a previously unregistered biotic. Name your poison, even if the Alliance desperately wanted me they'd never be able to take me in if we did things...legally."

David sighed as he finished his meal and tossed back the last of his whiskey, turning to his redheaded roommate he quirked a single dark brow as he responded, "Should I really punish the galaxy at large with your presence?"

She grinned widely at that, "Look at it this way Da', I'd be required by law to salute you and not steal your liquor." He laughed at that leaning back into his chair.

"You'd do that last bit regardless," she grinned in turn while nodding slightly.

"Well yeah, but I'd actually have to be discrete about it," David remained silent for a few moments before meeting her gaze evenly, all levity gone as he grasped her hands and held them tightly.

"It won't bring them back Jo," her fingers clenched tightly around his, her eyes glowing blue a moment before she nodded slowly.

"I know Da'...but...it's all I can do to make a difference...to make sure no one ends up like me again...' David stared at her a few more moments before nodding slowly. He released her hands and activated his Omni-Tool, after a few quick movements Joanna's tablet announced she received a new email.

"Be safe child..."

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 **So if we get any traction on this one we're going to jump to Elysium, if we don't I'm just giving up on this one, regardless, I hope you all enjoyed.**


	3. Garrus

**So I decided to give this one another shot, I know I'm not keeping to the plotline the old author notes set but whatever, nearly eight months between attempts to get this off the ground I really don't care. Anywho, this takes place six years after the last chapter, Shepard is a workaholic badass special forces soldier who is being forced to go on leave, and she is not amused by this in the slightest.**

 **Plus side, it causes her to meet a life long friend a bit early, enjoy and review!**

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The bar he found himself in was nothing special, middle class, quiet background music, and other than the low level C-Sec presence keeping the riffraff out there was really nothing to distinguish it from any other watering hole in the Wards. A perfect place to lose yourself for a few hours without risking the worry of getting stabbed in the back, which made it perfect for his purposes.

Garrus Vakarian was a Turian with a lot on his mind, namely, what was he going to do with his life now that his mandatory three years in the military were up? Sipping his drink he sighed while scratching one of his brow plates, who knew having so many choices would be so damn...stifling?

One of his former CO's, finding out about his discharge had sent Garrus a friendly invitation to join his 'Security Firm', which was spook speak for high end mercenaries with a loose set of morals. Not something he was really interested in but it was an option to take into consideration regardless, since the yearly salary and signing bonus looked to be on par with what his sister made in fives years and he got the satisfaction of blowing things up and getting paid for it.

The more mind blowing option had been thanks to of all things a Council Spectre seeing promise in him and offering to sponsor Garrus's application into the elite program which, he would admit, was flattering as hell. He was only eighteen and being hand picked to be one of the personal agents of the ruling body of most of the known galaxy was just surreal, though, he had his misgivings. His father had never approved of the Spectre's, too much freedom to do as they will, practically no oversight, and a license to do, well, whatever they wished in so long as they kept a low profile.

His father, yeah, the last option, falling into his footsteps and joining C-Sec, which really he was leaning towards and for once it wasn't out of duty or loyalty to his family. Garrus _liked_ helping people, and unlike many of his species he lumped the rest of the Council species in with his own when it came to that. He wanted to see justice served to those that preyed on the weak, and he really didn't see that happening if he decided to become a merc or a spook.

Maybe in the grander scheme, in an abstract manner, he would be able to satisfy himself that a particular job had saved 'X' amount innocents 'X' amount of turmoil but it was just that. Abstract. He wanted to know he was making a difference, but...he wasn't sure if he ever really would.

Garrus's thoughts were interrupted when he felt a presence take the chair to his left and he quickly glanced over to the human female who almost immediately face planted into her folded arms as she let out a frustrated groan into the bar top. Garrus felt his mandibles twitch in amusement at the woman's obvious frustration as she raised a hand and extended a single finger gaining the bartender's attention.

"Barkeep, what is the strongest drink you have on tap that a biotic won't burn through in five minutes and won't cause liver failure?"

It was muffled, but the bartender, a fellow Turian seemed more amused than not by the woman, pulled out a cylinder of glowing green fluid that Garrus dubiously thought resembled reactor coolant.

"Here, ryncol, Krogan drink, I cut it with citrus juice to prevent it burning through the bottle, I sincerely wish I was joking."

The woman sat up and looked at the glass in front of her contemplatively before shrugging, a gesture he'd gathered meant 'whatever' from humans, and downed it in one gulp. Garrus and the bartender stared at the woman for a few moments before she made coughing gagging noises earning a laugh from the barkeep who placed a beer on the counter before her while popping the cap.

The woman nodded thankfully as she chugged half the bottle before shaking her head blinking rapidly in the process, "Ok...careful what you wish for."

Garrus couldn't help but chuckle earning the woman's attention, without even really thinking about it he tilted his glass towards her and she barely hesitated to clink her bottle against it in a toast.

"You're still standing, more than I can say for others I've seen down that swill. Word of advice, don't be in the same room as a Volus who decides to indulge, it isn't pretty."

The woman shuddered slightly at the implications while taking another sip of her beer, shooting Garrus another look she nodded once, "Noted. Lieutenant Joanna Shepard, Systems Alliance Navy, pleasure to meet you."

Garrus's mandible clacked in amusement as he nodded in return, "Garrus Vakarian, formally of the Turian Hierarchy Military, now trying to figure out what the hell to do with my life. A pleasure."

Shepard nodded and turned back to the counter, running her finger through the water ring left by her beer before replying a moment later, "You lot get conscripted at what, fifteen? Three year mandatory tour and they basically just cut you loose after that?"

Garrus cocked his head to the side before nodding slowly, "More or less, it's sometimes more complicated than that but I have a special case that's causing me some issues."

Shepard cocked an eyebrow at that, an oddly Turian gesture, before spinning her bar stool to face him directly while crossing her left leg across her opposite thigh, "Oh?"

Garrus mulled over opening up to this woman a moment but inwardly shrugged figuring why not in the end. He had come to this bar to clear his head after all, so why not vent to someone showing open interest?

"Well, I was just discharged, no real desire to stay in the service you see, yet one of my old CO's wanted to recruit me for his merc company. I have the chance to become a Spectre, which I know my father would disapprove of, and then I have the option of following in said father's footsteps and joining C-Sec."

Shepard stared at him a few moments before smirking, it was an expression humans shared with Asari so it wasn't hard to distinguish which didn't make it any more comforting, thanks.

"Garrus, may I call you Garrus? How old are you?"

He shifted a bit before nearly stammering his reply, spirits damn it all why? "Uh, e-eighteen, how old are you?"

Shit.

You never asked a female her age, no matter the species, thankfully though he was dealing with an exception to the rule.

"Eighteen...heh... I'm twenty-two, if it matters that much to you. Look, Garrus, you're young still, just out of the military with the galaxy wide open for you to explore. So lemme ask you this mate, what exactly would you lose if you did what daddy dearest would wish and you spent a few years in C-Sec?"

He blinked at that, "What do you mean?"

Shepard laughed as she flagged the bartender for another beer while also indicating she'd cover Garrus's next as well before continuing on where she left off.

"You seem like a good sort, if a little..."

"Naive... My sister has pointed that out more than once," he finished for her sulkily, Shepard only nodded at that as she sipped her beer.

"Right, so get a couple years of people skills in C-Sec, and if you like it, stick at it, if you don't, well if you're skilled enough to garner that kind of attention I'm sure they'll still be interested in a couple years. Just my two creds keep in mind."

Garrus remained silent for a time before finally speaking up again, "Hey, umm...Shepard, you've given me a lot to think about so, thanks, I appreciate it."

She smiled in return while gently patting his shoulder, "Not a problem mate, kept me mind off my own problems for a bit so I'm not complaining. Oh, and feel free to call me Joanna or Jo, I don't mind a bit of familiarity between friends."

Friends, they'd just met! Well, never mind, she was probably the most forward and straight talking person he'd met since...ugh, best not to think about her right now.

"Not a problem Sh-Joanna, it was nice to get that off my chest, having a sounding board is something a lot of people take for granted and I appreciate you listening to me, err...whine."

Joanna let out a barking laugh at that and after she calmed down she began tapping at her Omni-Tool, a moment later he was sent a friend request on SpaceBook.

"If you ever need to rant to a friendly face again feel free Garrus, the galaxy is a cold place and it'd be nice to have someone who isn't afraid to be honest to rant to every now and then."

Garrus only mulled it over for a second before accepting the request, clacking their glasses together one last time they finished their drinks and soon Joanna pushed away from the bar looking highly annoyed all the sudden.

"Leaving already?" Garrus asked sounding a bit glum, the strange human's plain and open manner was refreshing and he was disappointed to see her ready for departure so soon after meeting her.

"Yeah," she began sounding disgusted as she snatched her jacket off the back of the stool, "Was only waiting for my flight to arrive. Mandatory leave, can you believe it? My da' set me up at a nice resort on Elysium, much against my own wishes mind, so off I got to spend a week wasting time by a pool surrounded by tourists. I am absolutely dreading the paperwork buildup my CO will let happen in my absence, ugh."

Garrus actually laughed at her scowling visage, that was a very Turian way of looking at leave and he told her as much earning a grin in turn, eventually she pulled her jacket on and gently slapped Garrus's armored shoulder.

"Don't be shocked if I end up texting you while I'm 'Relaxing', this has been the most entertaining conversation I've had in weeks."

Garrus nodded in return, "I look forward to it."

With a flippant wave Shepard walked out of the bar, and as it would turn out in a few days time, into the books of history.


	4. Waiting Up For Bae's Text

**This popped in my head and amused me, enjoy**

* * *

 **Shep:** I'm bored

 **Gar-Bear:** I'm Unemployed

 **Shep:** Your fault, and seriously still?!

 **Gar-Bear:** Background check, have to make sure I don't have a massive Red Sand addiction I'm trying to cover up or whatever, *Rolling eyes*

 **Shep:** That's bullshit, you should tell them that's bullshit, you're a Vakarian for fucks sake. Bull. Shit.

 **Gar-Bear:** Right!? Too bad they don't listen to you in the hiring process, ugh, annoying.

 **Shep:** While that is annoying, this planet is so damn boring I can't even come up with a clever anology to compare it to. There is nothing to do but sit by the pool listening to shitty party music while getting drunk and looking pretty.

 **Gar-Bear:** So you're doing what comes naturally while being drunk then.

 **Shep:** I'm _trying_ to get drunk, but being a biotic means I have to really make a go at it and it only lasts for a short time. Also, smooth Casanova, you get a golf clap.

 **Gar-Bear:** Casa what? And what's golf clapping? Regardless, please bitch about having super powers more, along with the ability to warp the space time continuum to your will, we mere mortals shall stand aside and give our condolences to your mind god problems.

 **Shep:** Anyone ever tell you you're a complete ass?

 **Gar-Bear:** My sister, my mother, my intructors, my ex girlfriend, that guy who made up my morning tea and that E-Check guy last week...

 **Shep:** The fuck is an E-Check?

 **Gar-Bear:** Emissions check on my sky car, it's basically a made up government agency that exists solely to give the uneducated jobs while looking like the government is actually doing something.

 **Shep:** Ah, makes sense. So besides that you're well aware of your asshole status?

 **Gar-Bear:** And proud of it.

 **Shep:** As you should be, good man...Turian...whatever...holy shit there is a lot of rum in this drink.

 **Gar-Bear:** Finally feeling it? =)

 **Shep:** I'm tasting the rainbow, and it tastes good.

 **Gar-Bear:** Lol, well whatever you do, take pictures and send them to me, I'm living vicariously through you at the moment.

 **Shep:** A lady never leaves any evidence towards her trail of debauchery Vakarian you know that! Hey... Something is trying to hack my comms Garrus, you getting this?

 **Gar-Bear:** No lemme double check my end of the connection.

 **Gar-Bear:** Shep?

 **Gar-Bear:** Shep?

 **Gar-Bear:** Shepard you're kind of freaking me out here, did you just get shit faced and pass out?

 **Gar-Bear:** Shepard?

 **Gar-Bear:** Jo...are you ok?

 **System Announcement-The comm service you are currently attempting to contact is currently unavailable. Please contact your extranet provider for further details.**

Garrus stared at the message displayed on his Omni-Tool for a few moments before letting out a sharp curse. Checking exactly where Elysium was on the galactic map his cursing became worse and he began mentally kicking himself as he paced across the room.

His friend, the only person outside his family he'd gotten along with had gone on holiday on the borderlines of the Traverse, which meant the Batarians were right next door which meant...

"Spirits...be safe Jo..."


End file.
